February 20 2009

Hollywood, CA – Mumbai is known as the Hollywood of India but aside from it being the centre of the movie making industry for its country, there is very little in common between the two cities. The juxtaposition of extreme wealth and glamour to the makeshift homes that make up the slums of Mumbai couldn’t be more stark. Now, because of a little movie that could, Mumbai and Hollywood will collide as they never have before, offering the super wealthy Academy an opportunity to award the feel good movie of the year, and gain a little free labour out of the deal.

Alongside the adult stars of the indie hit ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, both Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail who played the young Salim, and Rubina Ali who plays the young Latika in the film will be trading their lives of tin roofs and lack of running for at least one night for a trip on the legendary Oscar red carpet. The youngsters will have to earn their keep first though, and make sure the carpet is clean and tidy after the celebrities and paparazzi are through with it.

“A lot of people are criticizing the Academy’s decision to have these youngsters pitch in to help clean up but they have to realize that this is the life they are used to and the life they will have to go back to. A few days away can seem like a lifetime, especially when you’re young, and the Academy wants to make sure they aren’t spoiled by their overseas trip. They are only children and have decades of poverty and misery to look forward to and having a few
days of luxury could actually be more cruel than not having it at all. This is just to keep in their minds that Hollywood isn’t perfect and neither are their lives,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “From what I understand this was also something that was negotiated with the children’s parents. They wanted to ensure that their children didn’t ‘Go Hollywood’ and forget how to live in a slum. Once this euphoric ride wears off they don’t go back to West Hollywood, they go back to Mumbai.”

Among their tasks the young actors will be picking up paper and assorted trash, mopping up any spilled liquids, and rolling up the legendary red carpet.

“The Academy has made sure to keep their work regime within the realm that they are used to. Professionals will be doing the vacuuming and other relatively complicated tasks that involve things like electricity and mechanics. The pros don’t want to be teachers and the language barrier would
complicate things like that,” continued Temple. “From what we’ve been told the Academy has worked out an agreement the Department of Labour local officials to allow the children to pitch in. They made the case that the children would be expecting to work and not allowing them to do so could irreparably harm their psyche.”

After their work cleaning up the red carpet the children will be allowed into the Kodak Theatre to watch the remainder of the show, though both will be in balcony far away from the rest of the people who worked on the film.

“Danny Boyle and the other behind the scenes people will be front and centre and there’s a very good chance that they will need to be. The momentum is decidedly in their favour, but the children will be stowed away a respectable distance from them,” continued Temple. “Dev Patel and Freida Pinto will be with the rest of the cast but despite the fact that they represent the slums, they are far from it. Pinto was a model whose father is a banker and mother is a High School principal. Patel is British, born to a caregiver and an IT specialist. Both of them are far, far from the slums of Bombay that they so acutely pretended to be from. They are a little more acceptable amongst the Hollywood elite. They aren’t Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but neither are they slumdogs.”

The Academy Awards will be handed out this Sunday, No word yet if the children from the film will be allowed to touch the Oscar should the film win.